Rubicon Project Announces Real-Time Bidding And Publisher Controls

The Rubicon Project announced that it will be launching real-time bidding functionality to a limited group of demand-side partners in addition to providing controls to Rubicon Project publishers. Read the release.

Rubicon Project's VP of Marketing Kara Weber discussed the news and its implications.

AdExchanger.com: When will the beta begin with your demand-side partners and what do you expect the initial impression levels will be as in - will it include all available Rubicon Project inventory? Or do publishers need to opt-in first, for example?

KW: Our real-time bidding technology is live in alpha testing with a limited number of publisher partners. We are launching RTB technology now that Permission Control technology is in place to ensure that publishers can accept real-time bids safely, efficiently and with the rules of engagement between them and demand partners made clear to all parties. Among the Permission Control settings for RTB are, yes, opt-in (by partner), and assigning which inventory will be made available to bidders in the Protected RTB program, among many others. We will be adding more publishers to the program in coming weeks.

Why is real-time bidding good for publishers?

Publishers should be able to access all sources of demand in the digital ad ecosystem - not only ad networks and exchanges, but DSPs and others - who are buying inventory in all sorts of ways: content/contextual buys, site buys, audience segments, cookies and the latest, RTB. With effective channel management and the right protections in place, publishers can leverage channel management technology to drive revenue - and regain balance in the digital advertising ecosystem.

Can you discuss the uniqueness of the rules that protect publishers in the Rubicon Project's RTB beta program in comparison to other publisher yield optimization solutions?

the Rubicon Project is strictly a publisher-side platform; as defined in our manifesto, Principles of a REVVolution, we are committed to providing efficient and safe access to all sources of demand, and delivering technology protections against the risks of "black-boxed" and imbalanced arbitrage-driven systems that prevent publishers from recognizing the true value of their inventory.

To deliver on these promises, the Rubicon Project is innovating more and stronger technology than any other player in the marketplace to deliver publishers protection against pricing erosion, data leakage and channel conflict. These protections are enforced in two ways with our Protected
RTB program.

First, publishers can leverage Permission Control 2.0 technology by adjusting the series of levers within the REVV interface (around transparency, geography, site, ad size and more) to specify which partners may access their inventory, how and at what price. The technology strictly enforces these settings across all transactions on the REVV platform;

Second, the Rubicon Project is the only platform - publisher-side or otherwise - that has strict business rules in place with real-time bidding buyers (including Turn, DataXu, AppNexus and MediaMath, among others) that govern access to inventory and transactions on the Rubicon Project's REVV for publishers platform.

These publisher settings and partner agreements are enforced in every transaction that runs through the REVV ad technology platform. No other player in the industry has this level of protection in place; we truly aim to level the playing field for publishers.